Holy shite, no fucking way! I'm so gonna' buy this. I had the MG (Flight version) kit but sold it before even doing anything to it, was too lazy to fix it. I hope it comes with swappable Aqua type parts - please don't release a variation!

Roger Wrote:
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> drifand, I really like your idea of a vinyl
> Helldiver with parachute. It would be perfect.

Heck, yeah! Even without opened/deployable dive-brakes, an actual parachute sofubi Helldiver that you can fling off from 5-6 storeys up is gonna be too cool for words. IIRC, the Griffon did have a night encounter with JSSDF labors in the forested training grounds... I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Well, the parcel just arrived. My dull-red Pickel Kun is not packed in a tagged plastic baggie but a whopping big windowed box. Had to remove 3 simple twist ties to get the legs off the clear plastic tray-base.

Details: Excellent!
Play value: Crap!

Only the turret is movable... the gorgeously molded and detailed legs cannot be posed at all. The connector 'pistons' seem to be made of plastic to give the long legs some lateral stiffness. The feet are also nicely detailed, complete with 'wheels' hidden between the claws. It's just sad that the toy cannot be put into any poses at all, unless one is willing to slice apart the pvc 'joints' and build working ones.

Oh well. Can't help but feel this shouldn't have been made as a sofubi at all but a more poseable hard PVC action figure. If CM's makes more sofubi labors, I hope they'll concentrate on the more humanoid looking ones.

Yay! Now this is the first time I'd want to order BOTH variants. For the Tyrant, I didn't want the Movie ver; for Pickel-kun, the OVA red just seemed more... lively. But with the Asuka, both are interesting! Better start saving up :P

Yeah, I couldn't load that Toysdaily page either. No matter, the pix looked pretty OK, although the sculpts appeared to be a little more restrained compared to the original line art. With the first two boxy linear designs, I'd say the sofubi approach did them justice, but the Asuka's complex curves may be a bit harder to flesh out satisfactorily.

So, have you bought into these fellas yet? I'm worried the Asuka will again be split 1000/500... I'd hate to lose out on either one. Strangely, HLJ still has stocks for the Tyrant, but Pickel is already backordered.

I haven't bought any of these because I wasn't a big Patlabor fan, and I don't have any of CM's Ingrams, but I can imagine I'm going to encounter one of these vinyls in the wild and be unable to resist collecting it.

I picked up a green Tyrant the other day. I think I was pretty lucky to find it at retail (at Sakura-ya in Shinjuku), because I haven't seen any others, not even at Wonderfest. This thing is HUGE. Pickel-kun is pretty cool, too.

Rog, congrats on the Tyrant! And thanks for the scoop on the Herc and Asuka variant. BTW, how do you find the matt finishing on these sofubis? I always had this preconceived notion that sofubi were shiny and in this case, would've matched the paint job on the Ingram and Griffon.

The finish (matte or gloss) depends on whether or not the mold was polished, and if you desire a matte finish you can get one. I think this one looks great, and I'm really looking forward to getting all of the others, except for Pickel-kun. No offense, Pickel-kun.

In case anyone's in Osaka, Mandarake has tan and green Tyrants for about 3,000 each. Figures.

Well, I just got hold of the Flight Type this afternoon.
Good: Metal, metal everywhere; impressive engineering for the cockpit hatches.
Bad: Silly non-pivoting tailfin restricts torso; wings do not spread out fully.
Iffy: No display stand this time... Needs one for an 'in flight' pose.

Some of the parts (tail fin in particular) feel sort of weak. But the robot has no balancing problems at all, which is pretty cool. Racheting joints limited to knees and the wings. Accessories are nil (extra hands and Ingram gun, along with a sheet of screw hole covers).

Griffon's legs are a major improvement over the Ingram's. The knees are double-joint (as-per the Ingram), but the lower half of the joint ends in a circular slot, allowing the lower legs to be rotated. The feet can be extended from the 'flares' by about 1cm+, making the heel-toe articulation to actually improve poseability.

I have already customised my toy (gasp!) by taking apart and modifying the tailfin. If finances allow, I'lll buy the Aqua Version as well and then modify the head with a 'light pipe' so that the lens will appear to glow when there's a light source overhead. :-)

- OVA ver. Ingram on the left, with 'red shoulder', different chest windows, head and chest lights.
- P2 Reactive Armor ver. Ingram 2 & 3 on the right, pre-installation of armor.
- Cut-off poster at the top shows reactive armor suits on the Ingrams.

Question:
How will CM's milk the P2 Ingrams?
i.e. making fans buy 4 sets to get 3 distinct Ingrams doesn't seem possible unlike the earlier TV/Movie switcheroo with the heads and shield emblems. I'm hoping they play nice with my wallet this time!

Speculation:
CM's will probably release a sofubi IXTL to go with the P2 Ingrams :-)
Hopefully, we'll see more figures like the Hannibal or HAL-X10...

WTF a red shoulder custom Ingram?! Man - seems to me CMs is trying to beat Aoshima at multiple releases of the same diecast toy. I wonder who will be more successful.

That said, the reactive armor set sounds interesting. It's funny I was actually wondering how a CMs version would turn out just this morning - before I learnt they were actually gonna release it. Coincidence?

About the AV-0 - it doesn't look as detailed as I hoped it would be. I am actually slightly disappointed, but let's just see how the final toy turns out.

Btw - I finally picked up my Griffon today! Weeeee! I actually skipped its purchase in favor of a DMZ Rabidlydog a couple of weeks back but started regretting very shortly after. I nealy went frantic when I learnt last week that the only 3 stores I knew that were carrying this were all sold out of Griffons. Lucky me - I managed to snag one from the local Yahoo! auctions this morning and just picked it up a few hours ago. I must say, this piece does not disappoint at all. If you already have an Ingram - then you'll know what to expect. Diecast never looked so cool. :p Although it doesn't have cool lightup features, the added poseabiity greatly compensates for this. He poses so much better than Ingram - the latter was quite awkward to pose because the feet had so much restriction. I love the fact it's not a mere recolor - it's a totally different design, and the different cockpit mechanism kicks ass! This toy gets a 9/10. I'm getting used to the lighter shade of the cloth areas.

Btw - it seems they ARE going to release the Aqua version! Pretty much the same toy with different thrust packs. Oh - it will come with a decapitated Ingram 2 head (complete with dangling wires).

Hey Amuro, congrats on the Griffon. Have you gotten used to the 'stuck' tail fin yet? I took mine apart and customised it! Also bought a Gunpla ACTION BASE 1 to prop it up in take-off mode. The widest attachment fits the Griffon perfectly.

As for the 'Red Shoulder'... it's an official variant from the early OVA. The shoulder is supposed to denote squad leader (obviously). The changes seem minor but actually involve different head antennae, and most significantly - new diecast chest because of the different window design. Oh yeah, the shield is also different... and again, it IS diecast.

If I had the means, I'd buy 'em all but realistically it'll be priority 1 for Peacemaker and P2 trio only.

Waidaminute... I just re-read your post about the CM's Patlabor updates and realized the AV-0 is no Brave Gokin. That is just so sad! No wonder it was lacking details.

That said, isn't the stuck tail fin on Griffon supposed to be ummm... stuck? I did try yanking it off yesterday because it kept pricking my palm when I carry him. Plus, I was afraid of breaking the long pointy portion. I did however, have a right leg that's almost stuck - the rotating joint below the knee wouldn't budge but I managed to force it slowly. WHEW! For a moment there, I thought they were accidentally glued from the inside by mistake at the factory!

Will try that Gundam base one day if I ever buy one - thanks for the heads up. However, the thought of having a heavy diecast toy supported by a (light) plastic base does scare me a bit.